All the ‘JUICE’ on Citrus Technology

Taking youth sports to a whole new level; here’s the deep dive on a tech startup that you didn’t know you needed.

Founder Andrew Gottselig provides us with a captivating insight into the juicy journey that has brought him and his co-founder/CTO David Crossman, to their current position with Citrus Technology (Citrus), the innovative software they have developed for youth sports programs.

While a part of Cultivator’s GROW program, Andrew and David are key members of the ecosystem that has been built around Cultivator. Whether it’s hosting hoops during lunch, mentoring for a Cultivator START company, or stopping in to teach teens to code – these co-founders know what it takes to build a tech startup from the ground up and they are always looking to help others on their founder journies.

Here is how Andrew describes taking Citrus from ideation to MVP:

“Citrus was founded by myself, Andrew Gottselig, founder and CEO of HoopLife, and David Crossman, a highly experienced software engineer and founder of Hack Regina. Before Citrus, I was having a hard time at HoopLife with managing all the tedious admin work, the programming, and keeping track of finances on my own. I searched for a solution to help but found nothing. Soon after, I met David. At the time he was working on his software called ToolShed. Using my background in organizing youth sports and business development and David’s incredible technical skills, we joined forces to create software that eliminates all the major pains of building a youth sports program. Between the two of us, we were able to get the ball rolling and build our MVP. Citrus went live in 2020, right in the midst of the pandemic. We can proudly say that our revenue has grown exponentially ever since. In fact, just last month we reached $20k in monthly revenue!”

After years of being the typical scrappy founders, doing it all themselves, there came a day Andrew and David knew it was time to recruit in order to grow. Being a part of the Cultivator GROW program, the Citrus team has acquired a range of talent to offer the freshest product in the market:

“Today, Citrus is made up of 7 amazing individuals. Our market team comprises Andrew Gottselig – CEO, Matthew Shenher – Sales Rep, Dastu Omer – Market Support Specialist, and Sara England- Customer Success Manager. The product team is 3 strong developers with David Crossman as CTO and Software developer, and Nicholas Bolan and Brandon Hillbom as co-op software developers.”

For both Andrew and David, Citrus is not their first venture. Andrew tells us about another project of his called HoopLife, and how his passion for youth sports camps became his day job:

“In my high school years, I fell in love with basketball, it taught me so much about determination and confidence; and it really helped me connect with my coaches, who to this day have truly shaped me. As I went through high school, gaining skills on and off the court, I knew that I wanted to share this with other kids as well. Over the summers I would host basketball camps for kids and coach them myself. A few years race by and suddenly I’m 19 and I decide to start up HoopLife. For me, it wasn’t just about basketball and the drills, it’s about the kids. Sports are a great way for kids to connect with each other, receive mentoring from their coaches, and learn life skills that will stick with them into adulthood. It’s been about a decade since starting HoopLife and I can proudly say that we are creating spaces for kids to become great, skilled athletes, but also determined, confident individuals. Citrus has taken HoopLife from 200K in sales to 1.5 million +.”

As most founders know, the founder journey isn’t always smooth sailing. Andrew took the time to share with us some lessons he learned while founding Citrus:

“Although it was a rough start and long journey, it has been filled with many learning opportunities over the years. Here are just a few lessons that I’ve learned :

• Celebrate your wins – it’s easy to forget to celebrate your wins when they’re small but truly, all progress matters. So take time to recognize your efforts, celebrate with your team, and strategize for the next growth milestone.
• Hire good people – find like-minded people who are excited about the mission and who are hungry for change and innovation. Create a company culture that is collaborative and inclusive, your team can make or break your progress.
• Communicate with your clients – it’s not about you, it’s about your customers. Ensure that you are receiving feedback to build a better product and cultivate a relationship with them that helps you stand out. Your customer success/ service should be top-notch.
• Be flexible – Founding a startup and building a product means you need to change things often. Be open to pivoting and be flexible to change, it’ll only help you in the long run.

Over the years, we’ve had great support from many mentors, friends, and team members and we are overjoyed to say that our team has grown from just 2 founders to an inspiring and dedicated team of 7.”

Reflecting on the first half of 2023, here’s what’s next for Citrus:

“With the recent expansion of our team, we are ready to grow our existing client base and dominate the Canadian market while also expanding into the US. On the product side, we are currently focused on building our features in a way that is accessible and easy for your customers. We can’t wait to see the success of our customers through Citrus and we are truly looking forward to seeing the impact we can have on youth sports.”